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I'm stuck with a new installation of Slackware 14.0. I got Windows 7 installed and didn't wanted to mess the disk with Partition Magic, so I installed a second disc on my box. I did the install of Slackware and configured the lilo to boot both windows and Linux.

I rebooted the machine and checked Linux was booting ok, so I decided to check the boot for windows and I got a not nice surprise, I couldn't boot my windows anymore. Ouch... I have lots of documentation under this SO.

I booted into Linux once again and could see the windows C: drive is not the first partition, there is a reserved partition at /dev/sda1

I installed the MBR once again using the -P ignore option of lilo command ant tried to boot. It still not boot the windows, so I used fdisk to make the second partition of the first disk bootable instead of the first one. New lilo install and boot and nothing changed.

I changed back all the settings and restored the MBR so I can boot into windows again.

To fix your problems with LILO you need to add the "lba32" option to "lilo.conf" so that LILO will use Logical Block Addressing instead of the incorrect Cylinder/Head/Sector addresses. You should always include the "lba32" option in "lilo.conf"

Your first partition on the first hard disk has the Windows "bootmgr". That is the partition that must have the "boot" flag set. In "lilo.conf" You want to use "/dev/sda1" to boot Windows.

When you install LILO to the MBR it may be writing over the disk signature used by Windows 7. That prevents Windows from booting.

If Windows does not boot after you install LILO, you can repair Windows booting. Boot the Windows 7 Setup disk and then press Shift + F10 to get a Windows command prompt. Type in these commands to repair your boot configuration.

Code:

bootrec /rebuildbcd

Another way to avoid the problem is to install LILO to the second hard disk. That way, you will not break Windows booting when installing LILO. Then add the LILO boot sector to the Windows boot menu.

To install LILO to the second hard disk here is what you would put in the LILO configuration file.

After installing LILO you have to create a copy of the boot sector in a file. For example:

Code:

dd if=/dev/sdb of=/tmp/linux.bin bs=512 count=1

You need to copy the boot sector file to the Windows partition (the second partition of the first hard disk). Using Linux you will probably have to temporarily copy the "linux.bin" file to a thumb drive or floppy disk. Boot Windows and copy the "linux.bin" file from the thumb drive or floppy disk to the Windows partition.

Here is a good explanation of how to add a boot sector file to the Windows boot menu.

To fix your problems with LILO you need to add the "lba32" option to "lilo.conf" so that LILO will use Logical Block Addressing instead of the incorrect Cylinder/Head/Sector addresses. You should always include the "lba32" option in "lilo.conf"

I had "lba32" added to my lilo.conf, I just missed it when copying the file content.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erik_FL

When you install LILO to the MBR it may be writing over the disk signature used by Windows 7. That prevents Windows from booting.

If Windows does not boot after you install LILO, you can repair Windows booting. Boot the Windows 7 Setup disk and then press Shift + F10 to get a Windows command prompt. Type in these commands to repair your boot configuration.

Code:

bootrec /rebuildbcd

I tryed the suggestion above and although Windows replied the fix was done, the box kept not booting into Windows.

So I'll try the procedure of adding the LILO boot sector to the Windows boot menu when I have time to do.

Thanks Erik! I have just done an install while keeping windoze ( for the wife I hasten to add I wouldn't touch it with a 10' battle lance! ) and the auto lilo install seemed to work but windoze booted into the recovery partition, now that the correct partition is set both boot fine.